Pain and Death Come Hand In Hand
by bigger infinities
Summary: Death looms over everyone.


_Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Dairies._

_This one-shot is a part of Project PULL, started by my friend Bookaholic711. Link on my profile. Please consider joining!_

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She couldn't breathe.

The world around her blurred as all of the breath caught in her throat. She couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't hear. She couldn't believe what was happening.

It had happened within seconds, too fast for the human eye to catch. It had taken a few seconds for her to realize what had occurred, another few to fully grasp it.

He was dead.

She'd dropped to her knees, and it had felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest. It wasn't possible. Him dying was _not_ an option, not something that could actually _happen_.

She thought she heard her name being called, but she just ignored it, tentatively touching the sleeve of his shirt. Maybe he wasn't really dead. Maybe he was fooling all of them. After all, that's something he would do, just so he could get the upper hand. Because he couldn't be dead.

She heard her name again, but this time it was accompanied with a sharp blow to her head. Her already blurry vision swam, and then all she could see was his face. She didn't feel the pain from her head, though – the only pain she could feel was the burning in her chest, and she had the vague notion that someone must have been slowly drilling their way to her heart, killing her in the process, because it hurt like hell.

There was another blow to her head, harder this time. Her vision went for a second, before returning. The pain registered this time, and she looked up curiously to see what was happening. Someone was standing above her, holding something in their hand. She couldn't tell who they were or what was in their hand. Just that they obviously meant her harm. She was dimly aware of the vervain dart in her pocket. Without thinking about it, she slowly brought it out. She wasn't sure if the person above her knew what she was doing, but she didn't care all that much. She needed to focus on _him_, and that was difficult when you were being hit over the head with heavy objects.

When she thought the person's head was turned (really, it was impossible to tell when everything was so blurry), she stabbed their leg with the dart filled with vervain. The effect was immediate, and they crumpled to the floor. Before their body had hit the ground, she was turned back toward him. She was expecting to see him looking up at her, now that her attacker was gone, but he wasn't.

He was staring at the stars, his usually pale skin ashen. That was when the truth finally broke through her haze of pure denial.

He was really dead.

A scream ripped from her throat, one that tore at her lungs. It didn't help. Overwhelming pain was washing through her body, lit it on fire, froze it senseless. She clutched at her head because she was sure it was about to explode from all of the pain contained in her body.

In one last ditch attempt to prove that he wasn't dead, she reached across his body and felt where his heart was. A vampire's heart didn't beat, but his did. She just knew it did, even though it would be impossible. And she was sure – so so _so_ sure – that she would be able to hear it, maybe even _feel_ it, if he was alive. Her hand touched wood, but she ignored it. If she ignored it, it wouldn't imply what she knew it did.

She rested her hand around the stake, pretending like it wasn't there.

He didn't have a heartbeat. She couldn't hear it, couldn't feel it.

She gasped, trying to drag in lungfuls of air, but it still felt like she couldn't breathe, like she was drowning. Tears flowed from her eyes and puddled on the ground.

Now someone was trying to pull her away from his body, but she didn't want to go, didn't want to leave him. _He_ was all she knew in that moment of time, and she didn't want to let him fall into the black abyss that was sure to await him. She clawed at the person holding her back, screamed to be let go. Someone was saying something to her in a soothing voice, but she didn't understand any of it.

Sobs rocked her whole body, making her shake. She was so cold and yet so hot at the same time. It hurt to look at his body now, though it was becoming farther away. She closed her eyes, just to banish the image from her mind, but was able to see it while her eyes were closed too. She screamed again, and again, trying to rid herself of the pain, trying to release it all.

She still felt it, eating away at her core, and she sobbed harder. Her throat hurt too, but it was nothing compared to the pain that was weighing down her chest. She wanted it to end, wanted the pain to stop. She couldn't take it anymore.

Time must have passed, but she couldn't tell. All she knew was that the pain was going away, wasn't even getting better. She curled in on herself, feeling herself crumble apart. She couldn't imagine life without him, and because he was gone, she was slowly losing herself.

She was screaming so much that she thought she might destroy her own vocal cords. She bit down on her arm in an attempt to stop the screams from escaping her moth, and she drew blood.

Blood. It tasted almost sweet to her, always had, and now rivers of blood ran through her vision. All she could see was blood and death and destruction.

And then there was something being forced down her throat. She choked on it, her body trying to reject the substance, but she had no choice but to swallow it. She couldn't taste any blood now, but the pain still raced through her body in an endless dance, exploding everywhere in her body, killing her from the inside out.

Soon the tears stopped, and her throat was so raw that she couldn't scream, let alone make any sound at all. Darkness consumed her and she fell into it, hoping that she would meet him there.

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_[A/N]: Too lazy to do a thing at the top. I may or may not fix that later. So, as I never mentioned any name of who died, you may think of it as whoever you wish. Stefan, Damon, or even Elijah, if that's what you prefer. :D_

_Review, please. I wanna know how you think I did. ^_^_

~Icelyn


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